BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A 2013-2014 Regular Session B 1 4 3 AB 1432 (Gatto) 2 As Amended May 23, 2014 Hearing date: June 24, 2014 Education and Penal Codes AA:sl MANDATORY CHILD ABUSE REPORTING: SCHOOL EMPLOYEES HISTORY Source: Author Prior Legislation: None Support: As noted in Senate Education Committee June 17th analysis: California Catholic Conference, Inc.; California Federation of Teachers; California Police Chiefs Association; California School Employees Association; California State PTA; California Teachers Association; Child Abuse Listening, Interviewing & Coordination Center; Child Abuse Prevention Center; Crime Victims United of California; EdVoice; Hillsides; Keenan & Associates; Los Angeles County Office of Education; Los Angeles Unified School District; National Association of Social Workers; Northern California Regional Liability Excess Fund; Schools Association For Excess Risk JPA; Southern California Regional Liability Excess Fund; Statewide Association of Community Colleges; Superintendent of Public Instruction; StudentsFirst; United Teachers Los Angeles Opposition:None known Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 66 - Noes 5 (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 2 KEY ISSUE SHOULD SCHOOLS BE REQUIRED TO ANNUALLY TRAIN THEIR EMPLOYEES AND OTHERS WORKING ON THEIR BEHALF WHO ARE MANDATED CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT REPORTERS IN THEIR DUTIES AS MANDATED REPORTERS? PURPOSE The purpose of this bill is to require school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools to annually train their employees and persons working on their behalf who are mandated child abuse and neglect reporters in the duties of mandated reporters under the child abuse reporting laws, as specified. Current law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act ("CANRA"), which generally is intended to protect children from abuse and neglect. (Penal Code § 11164.) Current law requires mandated reporters to make reports of suspected child abuse or neglect, as specified. (Penal Code § 11165.9.) Current law enumerates 44 categories of mandatory child abuse reporters. (Penal Code § 11165.7.) Current law provides that "(e)mployers are strongly encouraged to provide their employees who are mandated reporters with training in the duties imposed by this article. This training shall include training in child abuse and neglect identification and training in child abuse and neglect reporting. Whether or not employers provide their employees with training in child abuse and neglect identification and reporting, the employers shall provide their employees who are mandated reporters with the statement required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 11166.5." (Penal Code § 11165.7(c).) Current law further provides that "(s)chool districts that do (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 3 not train their employees (who are mandated reporters) in the duties of mandated reporters under the child abuse reporting laws shall report to the State Department of Education the reasons why this training is not provided." (Penal Code § 11165.7(d).) This bill would instead require "school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools (to) annually train their employees and persons working on their behalf (who are mandated reporters) in the duties of mandated reporters under the child abuse reporting laws. The training shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, training in child abuse and neglect identification and child abuse and neglect reporting." This bill would require that this training be pursuant to the following provisions. This bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services, to do all of the following: (1) Develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the department, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the detection and reporting of child abuse. (2) Provide statewide guidelines on the responsibilities of mandated reporters in accordance with the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, as specified, and require that these guidelines include, but not necessarily be limited to, both of the following: (A) Identification of child abuse and neglect. (B) Reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect. (3) Develop appropriate means of instructing school personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and the proper action that school personnel should take in (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 4 suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, including, but not limited to, an online training module. This bill would require school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the Department of Education, and charter schools to do both of the following: (1) Except as provided below, provide annual training, using the online training module provided by the department, to their employees and persons working on their behalf who are mandated reporters, as specified, on the mandated reporting requirements. Mandated reporter training shall be provided to school personnel hired during the course of the school year. This training shall include information that failure to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is a misdemeanor, as specified. (2) Develop a process for all persons required to receive training pursuant to this section to provide proof of completing the training within the first six weeks of each school year or within the first six weeks of that person's employment. The process developed under this paragraph may include, but not necessarily be limited to, the use of a sign-in sheet or the submission of a certificate of completion to the applicable governing board or body of the school district, county office of education, state special school and diagnostic center, or charter school. This bill would provide that school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the Department of Education, and charter schools that do not use the online training module provided by the department shall report to the department the training being used in its place. RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 5 United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances. Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under the resulting policy, known as "ROCA" (which stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee held measures that created a new felony, expanded the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increased the application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis. Under these principles, ROCA was applied as a content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature did not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by passing legislation, which would increase the prison population. In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the federal court order requiring the state to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. The State submitted that the, ". . . population in the State's 33 prisons has been reduced by over 24,000 inmates since October 2011 when public safety realignment went into effect, by more than 36,000 inmates compared to the 2008 population . . . , and by nearly 42,000 inmates since 2006 . . . ." Plaintiffs opposed the state's motion, arguing that, "California prisons, which currently average 150% of capacity, and reach as high as 185% of capacity at one prison, continue to deliver health care that is constitutionally deficient." In an order dated January 29, 2013, the federal court granted the state a six-month extension to achieve the 137.5 % inmate population cap by December 31, 2013. The Three-Judge Court then ordered, on April 11, 2013, the state of California to "immediately take all steps necessary to comply with this Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to reduce overall prison population to 137.5% design capacity by (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 6 December 31, 2013." On September 16, 2013, the State asked the Court to extend that deadline to December 31, 2016. In response, the Court extended the deadline first to January 27, 2014 and then February 24, 2014, and ordered the parties to enter into a meet-and-confer process to "explore how defendants can comply with this Court's June 20, 2013 Order, including means and dates by which such compliance can be expedited or accomplished and how this Court can ensure a durable solution to the prison crowding problem." The parties were not able to reach an agreement during the meet-and-confer process. As a result, the Court ordered briefing on the State's requested extension and, on February 10, 2014, issued an order extending the deadline to reduce the in-state adult institution population to 137.5% design capacity to February 28, 2016. The order requires the state to meet the following interim and final population reduction benchmarks: 143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014; 141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and, 137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016. If a benchmark is missed the Compliance Officer (a position created by the February 10, 2016 order) can order the release of inmates to bring the State into compliance with that benchmark. In a status report to the Court dated May 15, 2014, the state reported that as of May 14, 2014, 116,428 inmates were housed in the State's 34 adult institutions, which amounts to 140.8% of design bed capacity, and 8,650 inmates were housed in out-of-state facilities. The ongoing prison overcrowding litigation indicates that prison capacity and related issues concerning conditions of confinement remain unresolved. While real gains in reducing the prison population have been made, even greater reductions may be required to meet the orders of the federal court. Therefore, the Committee's consideration of ROCA bills -bills that may impact the prison population - will be informed by the following questions: (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 7 Whether a measure erodes realignment and impacts the prison population; Whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there is no other reasonably appropriate sanction; Whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or legislative drafting error; Whether a measure proposes penalties which are proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other reasonably appropriate remedy; and, Whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety or criminal activity for which there is no other reasonable, appropriate remedy. COMMENTS 1. Double-Referral from Senate Education Committee This bill passed Senate Education Committee on June 17th (7-0). 2. Stated Need for This Bill As explained in the Senate Education Committee analysis, according to the author's office, "In recent years, there has been an alarming increase in incidents of unreported child abuse where one or more additional schools employees were aware of the incident-illustrating gaping holes in these mandated reporters' knowledge of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. Despite the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act's clear reporting requirements, school districts are merely encouraged rather than required to provide employees who qualify as mandated reporters with training on either abuse identification or abuse reporting. The absence of training is a failure of our system that leaves millions of students at risk every single day." Proponents of the bill submit that school employees are not always aware of their duty to report incidents of child abuse and neglect or are unsure of the proper procedures for making reports. Additionally, recent incidents have highlighted the lack of training of educators in their role as a mandated reporter. In either case, this could lead to incidents of unreported child abuse by school employees. To address these (More) AB 1432 (Gatto) Page 8 issues, several pieces of legislation have recently been introduced to take extra steps deemed necessary to ensure that children are better protected. (More) 3. Related Measures AB 1432 and AB 135 (Buchanan) each seek to accomplish similar objectives to strengthen the CANRA and ultimately increase student safety in schools. Specifically, AB 135 requires LEAs to adopt policies and provide employees with regular reminders of their responsibilities as mandated reporters. This measure takes a more expansive approach by requiring LEAs to annually train their employees, which they are already strongly encouraged to do so under the CANRA. The two measures (as currently drafted) would not have chaptering issues if both were signed into law. However, it is not clear that both measures are necessary due to the similarities of the objectives they are seeking to achieve. AB 135 is currently pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee. There is another pending measure that proposes statutory changes regarding the CANRA-AB 2560 (Bonilla). This measure would require a teacher credentialing applicant to read and sign a statement regarding his or her role as a mandated reporter, and is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee. *************** (More)